Pour Out Your Soul
Lamenting brings us comfort, closer to God and health to our souls; no wonder God designed us to lament. Before we jump into what lamenting means, lets look at ourselves as a whole. Each person is made of a body, soul and spirit. Our bodies have five senses: see, touch, taste, smell and hear. Our souls contain our intellect (mind, thoughts and reasoning), personalities, emotions (feelings, temperament, concerns) and will (choice and action). When someone comes to trust Jesus as their Lord and Savior, the Holy Spirit makes His home within you. The Holy Spirit is a gift and gives each person eternal life. This gift contains God’s goodness. “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” Galatians 5:22
As each person navigates through life, we quickly feel the affects of living in a broken and sinful word. Everyone has experienced trials and tribulations, you cannot escape it. This is the result of what happened in the garden between God, Adam and Eve. Yet God didn’t allow us to come into the world and be alone. He has pursued all of mankind with His love, so we can become His children. When we belong to Him, He will never leave nor forsake us. (Psalm 100:3)
In this lesson, God is bringing our attention to what it means to lament and how we can implement it into our lives. Lament is to express yourself, to pour out your soul. In other words to bawl, cry, bleed, howl, moan, sob, wail and weep. However, there seems to be something within each of us which tells us to do the opposite. Instead we grin and bear it, believe we need to be strong, don’t be vulnerable, just muscle through this. I have thought and believed all of those things. I have carried the weight of disappointment, frustration, fear, anxiety and depression, only to think if I bury it far enough... it will eventually go away.
“Cast your cares (all your anxieties, all your worries, and all your concerns, once and for all) on Him, for He cares about you (with deepest affection, and watches over you very carefully).”
1 Peter 5:7
In other words, pour yourself out before the Lord. We were not designed to carry our own burdens. Instead, He tells us to come to Him when we are weary and give our burdens to Him. Lament is a grieving process we do before the Lord. It allows us to be open and honest before Him. When we name it, the power behind it leaves. Instead of focusing on what we are trying to bury, our gaze shifts towards HIM. The gift in Lamenting is we pour out the load we weren’t designed to carry and ask for help. In other words, it is the great exchange. We give God our heavy, and He reminds us of His goodness.
When we sit before God with our unattended emotions, thoughts and concerns remember:
I feel… come before God and name what you are feeling
I need… ask God for what you need, followed by thanking Him what He has done for you in the past.
I will… I will praise you and wait with Holy anticipation for things to come because He is good and faithful.
I shared in group yesterday, my journal filled with praise and “I will” statements. As we pour ourselves out before the Lord, let your gaze rise up to the One who is eager to mend what seems to be broken!
xo,
K
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